May 25, 2007

Theme: Clever Girls and Cleverer Boys On Air: Frank

I had three songs that were neck and neck for my top song this week, in the end "Summer 2005" by Seymore Saves The World was the one that won by a nose. I first heard it on CHRW, the campus radio station in London, which by the way this was the station that gave me my start in radio during high school so many years ago. The second contender was a song by Pelle Carlberg that has the best (and longest) title of any song I know: Clever Girls Like Cleverer Boys Much More than Clever Boys Like Cleverer Girls. Unfortunately I was away when he played Toronto recently, but I heard it was a great show. The third song was a cover of a Kaiser Chiefs song done by Mark Ronson featuring Lilly Allen, but I'll say more about him on the next show. During my previous show, I ran out off time before playing another set of "strange" music so I finally got to it this show. The reason for the set was that I found an off-beat song by Robert Forster (formerly of the Go-Betweens) on a children's album and I needed somewhere to play it. The album looks cool, it is called "Songs for the Young at Heart" and also has songs from Bonnie Prince Billy, Jarvis Cocker, and Stuart Murdoch. The set ended with a great cover of "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Kids on TV. A few days before this show, I went to see the Joel Plaskett Emergency and Peter Elkas at the Starlight, it was a great show albeit very uncomfortable with the hot temperature that day and the sold out energetic audience. I followed their songs with a set of music of bands from the Maritimes. This was timely as right after the show I went to both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for a couple of conferences. This was also the reason that I ended the show with Rawlins Cross, the only band from St. John's that I know. TALK - Theme Seymore Saves The World - Summer 2005 Pelle Carlberg - Clever Girls Like Cleverer Boys Much More Than Clever Boys Like Cleverer Girls Mark Ronson (Featuring Lily Allen) - Oh My God The Bird and the Bee - Again and Again Young Galaxy - Calendar Girl (C) TALK Joel Plaskett Emergency - True Patriot Love (C) Joel Plaskett Emergency - Snowed In/Crusin' (C) Eric's Trip - Girlfriend (C) Jale - Nine Years Now (C) Plumtree - I'm Not Moving (C) TALK Peter Elkas - Party Of One (C) The Earaches - Not The Kinda Man I Am Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Unwanted Things Lonnie James - Piano In The Sand (C) Los Campsinos! - You! Me! Dancing! ** See Note 1 TALK Robert Forster - Uncle Sigmund's Clockwork Story Sage Francis - Broccilude Eleni Mandell - Girls Kids On TV - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off TALK Don Lennon - My Resume Pistepirkko - I Know The Album Leaf - Always For You Electrelane - At Sea The Bravery - Bad Sun (C) The Faintest Ideas - You're Beautiful The Sea and Cake - Lightning TALK Rawlins Cross - Open Road (C) Note 1: I swear that during the past week I've heard this song a couple of times a day on CKMS. (C) Denotes Canadian Content

May 11, 2007

Theme: Arrivals and Departures On Air: Frank

My favourite album for the year so far is one that came as a direct result of the show I did a few weeks back on commercial music, when I got reacquainted with The Icicles and ordered their new album called "Arrivals and Departures". I also went to see them in concert the week before the show and keeping with the title of their album, the women in the band dressed like stewardesses and the male member was a pilot, they also covered the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Needless to say I loved it. Thanks to everybody who sent in suggestions for the "Arrivals and Departures" set, even if for some of them I only sort of got the request correct. Doing research for the set I found out that there are tons of covers of "Getting on Jet Plane", in fact even the most famous version by Peter, Paul, and Mary is a cover of the original by Bob Denver. I ended up playing a version by Lisa Loeb. There were four songs that could have been by top song for this show, in the end I made it two weeks in a row for a Canadian artist with the band Young Galaxy. Another side project by a member of the Stars, is also makes for a lot of story about the band with headlines that are a variation of "Young Galaxy made of Stars". And I know I'm late on the bus, but I finally saw the movie "The Forty Year Old Virgin" the week before the show. Apart from being scared of the number of parallels between myself and the Steve Carrel character, the movie also featured some great musical moments. Playing the Asia song "Heat of the Moment" when he was going after the girl at the end of the movie was a brilliant reference to the Asia poster in his apartment. (Of course you had to be of a certain age to recognize the joke) The song "Got Lucky Last Night" that was played over the ending credits is also a great song that I knew I had to play on the show the moment I heard it. TALK - Theme Young Galaxy - Outside The City (C) The Cinematics - Keep Forgetting Ghost Story - The Upper Ten/The Lower Five The Two Koreas - Cloth Coat Revolution (C) The Golden Dogs - Yeah! (C) TALK (Poppolar.com set) **See Note 1 Annemarie - Bubble Gum I See Cats On Fire - End Of Straight Street Lovedance - It Sometime Brings Me Down ++The Airborne Toxic Event - Does This Mean You're Moving On Monster Baby - The Burning Ambition Of Early Diuretics TALK ++Lucky Soul - Add Your Light To Mine, Baby Tracey Thorn - Its All True **See Note 2 Everything But The Girl - Wrong Run DMC - RockBox Wally Jericho - Fleamarket (C) TALK (Airplane Set) The Icicles - Regret The Archers of Loaf - All The Nations Airports (Suggested by Garth) Robert Pollard - Supernatural Car Lover (Suggested by Peter) Paul Weller - Arrival Time (Kind of suggested by Stephen P) Bob Wiseman - Airplane On The Highway (C) (Suggested by Derek) Lisa Loeb - Leaving On A Jet Plane TALK Rock Plaza Central - When We Go How We Go (C) The Wooden Stars - Orphans (C) Local Rabbits - Play On (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - Wonder Worry Wart (C) Bellevue - Smile (C) TALK (40 year old version ending set) ++Joboxers - Lucky Last Night **Special Bonus** Asia - Heat Of The Moment ++ song competing for best song of the week Note 1: The first three songs her are from my latest purchases from www.poppolar.com Note 2: Tracy Thorn is the lead singer from Everything But The Girl, I also found out that the name Everything But The Girl comes from a slogan used by a small furniture company where they used that slogan to say that everything was on sale in the store but the sales girls. (C) Denotes Canadian Content

April 27, 2007

Theme: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin On Air: Frank

No overall theme to this show, just a lot of random ideas strung together: - I had to play the band "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin" after Boris Yeltsin passed away last week. I also played The Russian Futurists for the same reason. - The Stephin Merrit songs comes from a release called "Plague Songs" that has "10 Songs - 10 Plagues - 10 Artists". - When I found a song called "Sideways" by American band Let's Go Sailing I had to play the song by Men Without Hats with the same name (but it wasn't a cover song like I had hoped). - Both Peter Elkas and Joel Plaskett are playing the Starlight on May 24th. - Memphis is one of the bands playing this year's Hillside Festival, more on this later TALK - Theme The Sweet Homewreckers - Wild America (C) The Salteens - Time You Have Been Wasting (C) The Yokocasinos - Loose Cannon Hera - Don't Play This Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Oregon Girl TALK Skeeter Davis - Let Me Get Close To You Francoise Hardy - On Dit De Lui Lucky Soul - One Kiss Don't Make A Summer Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man Stephin Merrit - The Meaning of Lice TALK The Russian Futurists - The Science Of The Seasons (C) LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great B. Fleischman - Le Desir Wally Jericho - Kuryakin (C) TALK Ladybug Transistor - Her Words Hang In The Air Leopold - Work You/Me - To Live Morning Bride - Time Delay Thomas Dybdahl - A Love Story TALK Let's Go Sailing - Sideways Men Without Hats - Sideways (C) Lapko - All The Best Girls Peter Elkas - Fall Apart Again (C) Joel Plaskett Emergency - Nothing More To Say (C) TALK The Sea and Cake - Too Strong Sondre Lerche - Airport Taxi Reception Elbow Beach Surf Club - Our Hood (C) The Icicles - Crazy TALK Memphis - A Little Place In The Wilderness (C) (C) Denotes Canadian Content

April 13, 2007

Theme: Commercial Music On Air: Frank

It seemed like I did a lot of talking this show, but I was happy with how it went, as I think I had pretty interesting things to say. Thanks for the suggestions on the commercial music set and as always the site www.adtunes.com was an invaluable resource. I have tried to put in links to web versions of the commercials the best one is for Axe that uses the Israel Kamamawin'ole version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". IZ as he was known, was a very large Hawaiian man who looked very strange playing this tiny ukulele, unfortunately he passed away in 1997 of health related problems. Another band that I was happy to find out about doing research for the set was the song "Suger Sweet" by the Icicles, not only is it a great song but I also realized that I have played them before doing their song "Snowman". I have now ordered both of their CDs, going to prove that getting a song played on a commercial can pay dividends. After the show I couldn't get the song "Do the Freddie" out of my head, it was a novelty song back in the 60s by a British band called "Freddie and the Dreamers". It reportedly did start a bit of dance craze, but the Wikipedia description of the dance itself seems pretty boring "stand in place, then in rhythm with the music first extend the left leg and left arm, then the right leg and right arm. Repeat until the song's conclusion". Apparently there was a reference to the dance in the movie "Troop Beverly Hills" that I'm intrigued to see now. TALK - Theme I'm From Barcelona - Treehouse The Legends - Lucky Star Bermuda Triangle - It Feels Good Sissy Wish - DWTS Midlake - Young Bride TALK Hot Hot Heat - 5 Times Out Of 100 (C) **Request for Laura Firefly - Unsinkable (C) The Wooden Stars - Microphone (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - Surf Theme (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - The Letter (C) TALK Freddy and the Dreamers - Do The Freddie Caribou - Handelschnapp (C) Bullfrog - Ya-Ya (C) Quadra - Grey Something (C) Reality Sandwich - Blue (C) TALK (commercial music set) Israel Kamamawin'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World (Rice Krispies) link to ad Nouvelle Vague - I Melt With You (GMC) **Suggested by Garth link to ad Beck with The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize (Mitsubishi) **Suggested by Stephen P Royksopp - Remind Me (Geico) link to ad The Jam - Start (Cadillac) can be seen on this site The Salteens - Nice Day (C) (Zellers) **Sort of suggested by Derek link to ad **See Note 1 Icicles - Sugar Sweet (Motorola) link to ad TALK The Besties - Rod'n'Reel California Snow Story - Suddenly Everthing Happens Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea Marit Larsen - Under The Surface TALK Marmoset - Sky Phenomenon **See Note 2 Note 1: I love the fact that this song has the lyric "I know you think that I'm gay", of course that part isn't used in the commercial. Note 2: This is from a compilation out of the American record label Secretly Canadian, to celebrate their 100th release they had their artists cover each other's songs. This is a cover of a song originally by Jens Lekman. (C) Denotes Canadian Content

March 30, 2007

Theme: Equations and Johnny Marr On Air: Frank

There were two themed sets this show: The Johnny Marr set - highlighting the various bands that he has played in since his start in the Smiths and ending with his current membership in Modest Mouse The Equation set - it was hard to even find 4 songs to fill out this set, but I managed to do it with some help from Derek. As I mention in the setlist below, watch out for the very high cheese factor in the second set. The opening song was "Runaway Lane" by Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, I played this because I heard it on the last broadcast of CBC Radio 3 on terrestrial radio (it is now satellite only). I have always loved this song and it was great to hear somebody apart from me playing considering it is now over 20 years old (I have it on cassette). I ended with the great piece by Bruce McCulloch (formerly of Kids in the Hall) about being a Doors fan, the reason was that I have see advertisements recently about a recent "Very Best of the Doors" compilation and in the McCulloch's song he specifically says that Best of albums are for "housewives and little girls". TALK - Theme Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra - Runaway Lane (C) The Stooges - Trollin' The Eels - Hey Man Now You Are Really Living The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais The Fall - Victoria TALK (watch out for the cheese) The Crash - Pony Ride Orbit - Electric Rubik - City and the Streets Lio - Comix Discomix Kristoffer Ragnastram - Breakfast By The Mattress TALK You Say Party! We Say Die! - Opportunity (C) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (C) Collapsing Opposites - Will (C) Cub - Way To Go (C) TALK (Johnny Marr set) The Smiths - Panic The The - Dogs of Lust Electronic - One Day Modest Mouse - Dashboard TALK (equations set) The Kissaway Trail - Smother + Evil = Hurt Sekiden - 1 + 1 = Heartache Ivana Santilli = Sun + Moon = Tomorrow Haircut 100 - Love + One **Suggested by Derek TALK Loney Dear - I Am John Sally Shapiro - I'll Be By Your Side You/Me - Through Four Kinds The Bicycles - I Know We Have To Be Apart (C) **See Note 1 Hilotrons - Stuck In The Sound (C) TALK Bruce McCulloch - Doors (C) Note 1: I went to see both The Bicycles and the Hilotrons in Ottawa at a place called Zaphod Beeblebrox, it is the legendary place to see a band in Ottawa. The show was great and as an added bonus as it was Easter weekend the bar was decorated by Kinder Surprise eggs. There is no better way to kill time waiting for a band then putting together Kinder Surprise toys. By the way for anybody who doesn't know how the bar was names see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaphod_Beeblebrox (C) Denotes Canadian Content

March 16, 2007

Theme: In the Hall of Fame On Air: Frank

Thanks for all the suggestions about the Hall of Fame set, as you can see below I tried to stay away from the most popular songs by the artists and used a Van Halen cover instead of the real thing. I got a lot of suggestions for an REM song, but I had to defer to Derek on that one as he is the biggest REM fan I know. I thought that "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was a bit to obvious, so I went with "White Lines". There is also some controversy about the song as to whether or not Grandmaster Flash (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_flash). I have complained in the past few months about not finding a lot to play from the CKMS new release section, however this has really turned around lately. Combined with the many different websites I have found highlighting the Scandanavian bands playing the recent South by Southwest music festival in Texas it meant that I had lots of songs to play for the show (and lots of songs leftover). Here are some of those sites about SXSW: sixeyes.blogspot.com/2007/03/scandinavia-comes-to-sxsw-mp3s.html www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/31476/bylarm-2007-part-1-the-music I got an e-mail from a band from the United Kingdom call the Hit and Runs, they had seen my setlists and thought their music would fit into my show. So I checked them out and liked them, you should check them out at www.thehitandruns.com TALK - Theme Charlotte Gainsbourg - Don't Forget To Forget Me Ane Brun - To Let Myself Go Leopold - Johnny Air - Once Upon A Time Moi Caprice - For Once In Your Life Fight For Something You Believe In **See Note 1 TALK Marit Bergman - No Party You Say Party! We Say Die! - Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule (C) Annemarie - The Living Model Deacon Blue - A Is For Astronaught **See Note 2 The Saturday People - Slipping Through Your Fingers **See Note 2 The Hit and Runs - Low Tops and Make-up **See Note above TALK Jeremy Fisher - Remind Me (C) Nich Worby - Oh, Little Bonez (C) Sondre Lerche - Well Well Well Sean Clarke - No Phone Before Regina (C) Geoff Berner - Good Luck Now (C) TALK (Hall Of Fame Set) Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - White Lines (Don't Do It) Patti Smith - Kimberly **Suggested by Dan REM - Harborcoat **Suggested by Derek Aztec Camera - Jump (of course a Van Halen cover) The Ronettes - Do I Love You? TALK Adaptor 45 - Keep on Groovin' (C) Steady, Garcia - Pretend Girlfriend (C) **See Note 3 Peter Elkas - Sweet Nancy (C) The Gruesomes - Out Of Our Tree (C) TALK Arcade Fire - Ocean Of Noise (C) Note 1: I thought this song was an unknown song by the Flaming Lips the first time I heard it. Note 2: Stolen from the podcast The Great Leap Forward Note 3: I loved the title of the album this song is from: "Bring me the head of Steady, Garcia", this reminds me of one of my favourite sketches written by my friend Cat Sullivan called "Bring me the head of Poncho Garcia". This was back in another life when we used to co-host a radio comedy show called The Frank, Frank, and Frank show. Of course they both were taken from the Sam Peckinpah movie "Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia". (C) Denotes Canadian Content

March 2, 2007

Theme: Hard to listen to songs On Air: Frank

I started out in a funky groove beginning with the top song by Ruth Brown. The set also included a song from the Light in the Attic release "From Jamaica to Toronto", it is a compilation that was released last year featuring acts that came from the West Indies and settled in Toronto. The morning of the show I saw a performance by some of the acts from the CD on Breakfast Television publicising a show that they were doing that night in Toronto, I couldn't make it but that would have been cool to see. Another Light in the Attic release I'm looking forward to is their collection of music from Bollywood movies of the 60s and 70s. I ended up playing more songs that I had planned in the "hard to listen to" set, see if you are able get through the 7 song endurance test. After that set the rest of show was pretty laid back, I promise more happy, poppy stuff for the next show. I know it is buried near the end, but the song by Keren Ann "Lay Your Head Down" is a really great song that has really grown on me since the show. It was fighting for the top song spot but didn't quite make it, however do yourself a favour and make sure you give it a listen. TALK - Theme Ruth Brown - 5,10,15 Hours B'Ham Rhythmn Section - I've Been Lonely For So Long Howard Tate - She's a Burglar Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy - Fire (She Need Water) (C) Professor Longhair - Go To The Mardi Gras TALK Bellevue - KC Thugs (C) The Gruesomes - You Were Not Using Your Head (C) The Fussy Part - Dog Food Thumb Jim Ried - I'm Stranded The Organ - Memorize The City (C) TALK (The hard to listen to set) Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind The Sixth with Odetta - Waltzing Me All The Way Home Geoff Berner - Can't Stay Dry (C) Daniel Johnston - Mind Contorted Calvin Johnson - When You Are Mine Tom Waits - Filipino Box Spring Hog The Comedian Harmonists - Wenn ich vergnugt bin, muss ich singen **Suggested by Derek TALK Ron Sexsmith with Bob Wiseman - Trains (C) Steven McKay - The Other Bums (C) Friday Morning's Regret - When Lost at Sea (C) Jeremy Fisher - American Girls (C) Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down - Say It All TALK Dean and Britta - Teen Angel Airport Girl - Show Me The Way Keren Ann - Lay Your Head Down **Almost the top song of the week Holden - Ce Que Je Suis Ukjent - My New Hang Up The Pipettes - A Winter's Sky **See Note 1 TALK Jarvis Cocker - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time (C) Denotes Canadian Content Note 1: I saw the Pipettes at their first ever North American show at the Rivoli in Toronto on March 9. They were totally awesome, they only allowed 100 people into the venue because of a violation the night before. So although the show was "sold-out" the venue was only about half full. See another review with pictures here. You can also see many different videos from the show on youtube.com.